


Another Me

by frabjousday (frabjous)



Series: Harriet Specter and Michelle Ross AU [1]
Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-12
Updated: 2012-07-12
Packaged: 2017-11-09 19:59:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frabjous/pseuds/frabjousday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We'll have to streamline this," says Donna. "Harvey, give them hard time before you send them in. Shoot me a signal if they say something clever."</p><p>Harvey asks, “What are you looking for?”</p><p>And Donna replies, “Another me.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Me

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed.

Harvey asks, “What are you looking for?”  
  
And Donna replies, “Another me.”  
  
Rachel Zane isn’t exactly another Donna Paulsen, but she comes to the interview wearing a cute number by Prada and shiny Louboutins which show spectacular sartorial taste. She walks to her chair with her back straight and head high; the right mix of self-assurance and determination. Rachel Zane is smart and she’s not afraid who knows it.  
  
Donna likes her immediately. Besides, Harvey had given her the Signal which had consisted of rocking back on his chair to give her a series of slow, deliberate nods while wiggling his eyebrows. It hadn’t been his most subtle move.  
  
“So. Rachel Zane. Says here you graduated fifth in your class.” Donna makes a show of looking through the resume. It’s impressive, but she expects nothing less of someone shortlisted for an interview at Pearson Hardman. She and Harvey had poured through them the night before and Harvey had stuck neon green post-its on the candidates he thought ‘sounded hot’. Rachel Zane’s resume has no less than five post-its.  
  
“First,” Zane says, “if you don’t count the four baby-cheeked, lily-white boys in positions one to four.”  
  
Donna smiles inwardly at the show of confidence. She’s liking Zane more by the second.   
  
“That’s interesting choice of argument, Ms. Zane. I see your point, but how many of these boys could boast access to a half million dollar trust funded by their parents?” she asks, and gets the satisfaction of seeing Zane’s composure falter and slip. Realistically, probably all of them had trust funds in the millions.   
  
“How do you know that?”  
  
“I’m Donna Paulsen,” she explains. “I’m the best closer in New York. It’s my job to know.”  
  
Zane shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “The money’s there but I’ve never touched a cent. At Harvard I worked late nights as a server and I took out loans like everyone else. Did you know that too?”  
  
Donna did know, but it’s important that she hears it from Zane. It gains her a mark of respect. “What did your parents think about that?”  
  
“I wanted to be be independent,” she says. “I told them that it was really important to me.”  
  
“And what did you say to Harvey before?”  
  
“Harvey?” Zane takes a moment to keep up with the change of subject.  
  
“My assistant sitting outside.”  
  
She reddens. It’s delightful. “Oh him! He’s your  assistant ? I thought-” she stumbles, “I didn’t know he was your assistant.”  
  
Donna cocks her head. “What did you think he was?”  
  
She dodges Donna’s gaze and nervously tucks an invisible strand of hair behind her ears. Her face is still red. “I didn’t mean- I was really on edge,” she says quietly. “I really wanted this job.”  
  
Frankly, Donna’s a little confused.   
  
“And you could still have this job. If you tell me what happened between you and Harvey.”  
  
Zane pinches the bridge of nose with a pained expression. “I told him,” she takes a breath, “I told him that just because he was already an associate at Pearson Hardman it didn’t mean he could hit on me. And that once I got the job I would personally kick his ass at every single file, moot trial and trivia night.” She looks noticeably ill.  
  
Donna tries and fails to keep the amusement out of her face. “You thought he was an associate?”   
  
“I didn’t know he was your assistant,” she says, like it’s physically hurting her to say the words. But no apology. Just regret that she’d said anything.  
  
“Harvey’s a bit of a diva,” Donna agrees. “You’ve got to watch out for that ego or he’ll have you running jobs for him.”  
  
There’s a stretch of silence while she contemplates Rachel Zane from the comfort of her ergonomic leather chair. Without looking at the interview list, she knows her afternoon is going to be filled almost entirely with Zane’s aforementioned baby-cheeked, lily-white boys. There is, in fact, already an epidemic of them at Pearson Hardman.   
  
“I guess that’s it then,” Zane murmurs to herself. It sounds like defeat.  
  
“Hold up, kid. What do you know about stock option backdating?”  
  
Zane looks up and blinks twice. “Stock backdating is legal as long as disclosure is made. An attorney needs to advise any client about their disclosure obligations and the consequences of violating IRC section 409A,” she says, like it’s as easy as breathing.  
  
Oh, she’s good.  
  
“What about Sarbanes-Oxley?”  
  
“Not applicable since the Statute of Limitations overrode the common law in 2007.”  
  
Zane’s missed the decision from the 6th Circuit in 2008, but Donna would bet there’s not one interview candidate who’d know that. There’s a reason why she’s the best closer in the city. Zane is less than perfect, but Donna can work with that. And god knows she needs an associate who can hold her own against Harvey and his ten foot high ego.  
  
“Well then, I think my decision will be pretty clear,” she says.  
  
Zane is halfway through mumbling a thanks and an apology when Donna stands and holds out her hand. “Congratulations, Ms. Zane, you’ve got the job. Welcome to Pearson Hardman.”   
  
So in the end Donna also gets the satisfaction of seeing Rachel Zane flushed with pleasure and her face lit up with surprise.


End file.
